Whispering Corridors
by Ming-Chan
Summary: AU. What is it about schools at night that are so creepy? Perhaps it is because they are so loud during the day that makes them so eerie at night? Take a walk down these whispering corridors to find out...
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: In an alternate universe in a land far, far away…could I ever own Rurouni Kenshin…alas such a world does not exist…

Whispering Corridors – The Library

The cool autumn air whistled through the trees causing the branches to sway back and forth. Kaoru shivered to herself pulling the thick material of her jacket tighter around her shuddering form. She quickened her pace as she made her way down the paved path that lead to her school's library.

Her tennis shoes slapped noiselessly against the pavement as she moved. A sudden gust of wind blew sharply across her face causing her long black hair to dance wildly around her face. The blast of cold air caused her to squeak in protest louder than she would have liked. Taking a step back she clapped her gloved hands over her exposed ears in a vain attempt to protect them.

Once the wind had settled Kaoru carefully pulled her hands away and resumed walking. Around her she could still hear the wind rushing through the trees. The sound it generated was rather haunting, like a low and drawn out moan.

Kaoru frowned wondering why she had come up with such a disturbing simile. The idea unsettled her causing her to resume a far brisker pace than necessary. In a moment Kaoru saw the entrance to the library. She smiled knowing it promised peace, warmth, quiet, warmth and did she say warmth? She quickly pushed the double doors open, welcoming the ready rush of hot air, and stepped into the brightly lit atrium. She looked around her deep blue eyes swept along the rows of benches lining the wall on her right.

Seeing no one she recognized she plodded down the short corridor and made a left stepping over the metal detector and onto the main floor of the library. She scanned the room once more her eyes roving over the buzz of activity. Along the back wall students were gathered in groups around several tables, while others were occupying the various computer terminals. Again she saw no one.

"Yo Jo-Chan!" Called a familiar voice. Kaoru looked up and waved as she spotted a tall guy with spiky brown hair. Sagara Sanosuke picked up his backpack and quickly shut off the computer terminal he was working at and approached her.

"Hey Sano, actually doing work for once?" she grinned wickedly before scrunching her brow in apprehension. "Is it the apocalypse? I _thought_ that was hail earlier today."

Sano smirked. "Ha-ha Oh Kaoru you're so funny. Now save me the trouble of smacking you by walking into my hand."

Kaoru laughed playfully swatting away the hand in front of her face. "Well sorry if I find the idea of you and work to be amusing. So seriously what are you doing then?"

"I was just admiring the beauty of the human body."

"Oh really?" Kaoru quirked an eyebrow, "Your actually doing your biology then?"

"Nope, looking at porn." Sano chuckled then winked at her suggestively. "Isn't that what the internet is for?"

Kaoru rolled her eyes as Sano continued to sing, off pitch, several lines of that ridiculous song. "Whatever Sano."

"Hey I'm a healthy young man with healthy male attitudes. Ask any guy. They're lying if they say they've never sneaked a peek.

"Kenshin doesn't." She stated firmly.

"That's what you think. He might be a good boy but he's still a boy." He chuckled, poking Kaoru in the ribs playfully. "Anyways what are you doing here? I thought this was your short day?"

"Didn't I tell you? I have an exam in a couple days so I was going to stay a bit later. Actually I'm going to meet Misao too she was all flustered this morning when I saw her so I asked if she wanted to study with me."

"Right…forgot about that. But doesn't she usually go meet the Ice man on these days?"

"I don't think Aoshi would appreciate you calling him that." Kaoru scolded. "Hmm…you are right though, I'll call her later to confirm then. I did ask her if she wanted to study before she had coffee today."

"Haha. Alright then Jo-Chan I'm going to head to the gym. Don't study too hard now and by the way Kenshin wants you to call him before you leave."

"Why?"

"Not sure he is after all, your crazy boyfriend not mine, just call him." With that he gave a two-finger salute and turned to exit the library.

Still smiling to herself she walked down to the basement level of the library to study. She quickly found a blue armchair. Dropping her bag against the floor she grabbed the back of the chair and pulled it over to one of the desks near the bookshelves. Grabbing her bag she settled in comfortably pulling out her East Asian history textbook. From her bag she also produced a pen and a pad of paper to take notes with.

She read for about an hour before she made an attempt to call Misao. The girl was not picking up her phone. Well it did not really matter. Not that she had anything against studying with Misao, but Kaoru knew she could get more work done without her.

Slowly Kaoru could feel the weight of the day begin to settle onto her shoulders. She glanced at the time on her cell phone. 6:58 p.m. she sighed slouching further into her seat. Another fifteen minutes went by.

Pushing herself up Kaoru glanced around. In front of her to her right she saw another student standing in front of the bookshelf. The library was newly designed with state of the art equipment. The bookshelves for one moved. All the student had to do was look for the right aisle press a few buttons and the shelves would move either left or right. To prevent people from getting squished the aisles were all equipped with motion detectors. The shelves would not move if they sensed anything. When the library first opened Kaoru had vaguely wondered what would happen if there was a blackout though. Granted the shelves still wouldn't work but the thought had made her giggle.

After finding the right aisle the student pressed the buttons and voila. _Beep._ Went the sensors as the student stepped in. It beeped again as the student stepped out of the aisle.

A sudden flickering above her head caused her to look up. The fluorescent light sputtered with effort before staying on. _That was weird._ Kaoru thought to herself. Sighing she turned back to her work and began reading again.

Some more time passed and Kaoru was finding it harder to stay focused. Earlier she had tried to call Kenshin, twice, the first time she only received a weird static response, and the second had attempt had resulted in odd gasping noises. Checking the time again she saw it was already 9:45 p.m. clearing her desk a bit Kaoru decided to take a quick nap to rest her eyes. She set the alarm on her cell phone and settled back onto her chair propping her foot up against the desk.

_Buzz. Buzz. Buzz._

Kaoru jerked her head up at the vibration of her cell phone knocking the text book she had in her lap onto the ground. The heavy spine thudded against the carpeted floor. Several other heads in the library looked up and glared at her.

Smiling apologetically, she got up from her arm chair and bent down to pick up her book. Plopping back down, she ran a hand through her mussed hair and carefully rubbed the sleep from her eyes. Turning her neck from side-to-side she carefully worked the kinks out if it and stopped when she heard it crack. Picking up her phone she noted the time to be 10:25 p.m.

_Damn. I want to go home already, stupid tests. School how I loathe thee. _She shook her fist at no one in particular and settled deeper into her seat flipping her book open once again. She slowly twirled her pen in her hand and would now and again use it to make a note.

Time passed and Kaoru could feel the weight of sleep begin to take its effect on her again. Slowly her hand fell to her side, the words on the page began to blur and re-shape themselves in the form of happy sheep running across a lush green field filled with soft comfortable beds. Her chin drooped towards her chest and her eyes gradually began to close.

_I'll just close my eyes for a bit. I'll open them in a second…in one second…one sec…_

Through the haze of her mind she could sense the movement of the other students in the basement level of her schools library. The soft hum of noise leisurely faded away into the background adding to the lullaby of her mind.

The pen she was holding suddenly fell from her grip. Her dark blue eyes quickly popped open. She quickly pushed herself forward to find it only to stop mid-way. She straightened up and slowly turned her head to survey…a very empty library. She strained her ears trying to pick up even the minutest bit of sound. She looked down at her cell for the time. 1:36 a.m.

"Oh crap! Why didn't the staff come by to kick me out?" She quickly stood and began shoving her books and papers into her bag. She swung it over her shoulder and took a step forward to leave but stopped. "Oh yeah my pen!"

She spun around towards the chair she had been occupying and bent down to retrieve it. Her brow furrowed in confusion. _Wasn't it just by the chair leg? _She thought to herself. She moved her eyes forward and saw it by one of the moving shelves. _Oh must have rolled farther than I thought._

She circled around the desks toward the shelves and stopped again.

"Um…"

Her pen was gone again. Stepping forward she slowly made her way into an aisle. The beep of the sensor startled her as she passed over the threshold. Placing a hand over her heart she turned around again her eyes on the floor.

"There it is geez." Sighing in exasperation she stalked over and knelt down to pick it up. Just as her outstretched hand came into contact with her pen, she jerked to her right. Through the spaces above the books lined on the shelf she saw a shadow walk by. _But I didn't hear the sensor go off._

She scrambled up and entered the aisle beside her.

_Beep._

_Beep._

Nothing.

Kaoru took a careful step backward feeling the tread of the shelf beneath her shoe.

_Beep._

Without looking she could sense the movement of something moving past her from behind. Like a slight wind. The kind a person can generate when they walk past you quickly. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up. She swallowed thickly and slowly turned her head. At the very end of the moving shelves to her left she saw a person standing partially hidden. They appeared to be wearing a vest. She sighed in relief.

"Sorry I kind of fell asleep on an arm chair. I'll be going now Sir, Miss?" Her voice was a little shaky as she spoke to the person she assumed was part of campus police. As she spoke she began to slowly walk towards them. However as she took three steps the individual suddenly walked out of view.

Her blue eyes narrowed in confusion. She began to carefully walk down the hall anyways to see where they went. Once she got to the end of the hall she looked left and right but could not see the person. Kaoru frowned and looked at herself in the window, taking in her slightly disheveled appearance. Her long dark hair was a bit messy and even due to the dark landscape outside she could tell her eyes had dark circles under them. She shook her head and just decided to head home when suddenly she saw something standing behind her. In the reflection in the window she spotted the person she saw before all the way at the other end of the shelves standing in front of the study rooms. She spun around to face them.

But there was nothing. Slowly her eyes widened as one by one the lights began to flicker and go out all together; one at a time slowly approaching her. About halfway they stopped. Silence filled the floor. Then very softly Kaoru picked up a sound. They were the sounds of beeping. The kind of beeping the shelves make when someone passes though an aisle.

Slowly the sound approached the spot she was standing on.

_Beep._

_Beep._

It was getting louder.

_Beep._

_Beep._

It was at the shelf just a few steps away from her.

_Beep._

She waited, one minute. Two minutes. Five.

Nothing.

And then she felt it; the subtle feeling of wind. The kind a person can make if they walk by you quickly. Before she could turn around the lights went out and that was it.

After a few minutes they returned. But Kaoru was no longer there. The only indication of her presence was a pen lying on the floor.

TBC…

AN: My library has moving shelves…it took the longest time to figure out because the aisles were always 'occupied' i.e. there was no one actually in them.

This story is loosely based off the Korean Horror movie series called Whispering Corridors. However the only thing it has in common with them is that everything will happen at school. Other than that, there are no other glaring similarities.


	2. Office Hour

Disclaimer: I own nothing….

Office Hour

"And so V. Gordon Childe's Oasis model on the origins of food production states that thousands of years ago after the end of the last ice age great climatic changes occurred. These changes…" the professor droned on, explaining the various different models.

His monotonous voice was so dragging that more than a handful of the students were sleeping. One boy even stumbled sideways out of his seat trying to keep awake.

Makimachi Misao stared at the front of the lecture hall blearily pen in hand. She could not remember a time in her life when she had been more bored. Normally this class was very interesting for her. But the combination of her professors voice and her lack of sleep from the night before…_studying_ (playing Ninja Gaidan) was torturous enough to make her want to commit seppuku.

Beside her, her two friends Okon and Omasu were in a similar state. Okon was playing spider solitaire on her laptop and trying to get the guy beside her to stop dropping onto her shoulder in sleep, while Omasu…Omasu was…

Frowning, Misao felt her eye twitch slightly as she stared at Omasu who appeared to have finally mastered the art of sleeping with her eyes open and pen in hand.

'_Lucky girl…' _Misao thought to herself. She had a sudden urge to shake her fist at the girl but refrained.

Misao picked up her large coffee and drank the remnants of the caffeinated drink. She groaned once she finished. It was not nearly enough.

Her green eyes flickered over to the clock hanging above the door. 1:53 p.m.

_Seven more minutes just seven more minutes. _She chanted it like a mantra in her head. She couldn't wait. After class she was going to pop in and see Aoshi then go and study with Kaoru.

_Oh shoot, its Wednesday isn't it? _Misao growled in annoyance. She had almost forgotten she had office hours this week. She would have to skip out on seeing Aoshi for today and head to the club room right after class.

She slumped down into her seat pouting. Her eyes were trained on the clock willing the time to move faster.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity the professor made a move to close off his lecture.

_Why does he feel the need to talk all the way to the end of class?_

After reminding them all of their midterm in a week he finally let them go.

"Oh sweet Kami-sama I thought it would never end!" Okon drawled quickly shoving her books and laptop into her bag. "That's two hours of my life I'll never get back."

"I know what you mean, I normally like this stuff, but that was too painful to describe." Omasu agreed. She had 'awoken' just as the professor said they could go. "I thought there was a law against the use of cruel and unusual punishment."

Misao just chuckled as she pulled on her scarf and coat. She could not agree more. "I just hate that he always talks until the _very_ end of class."

The three girls continued to chat amiably amongst themselves as they descended the steps of the lecture hall.

"Misao, do you want to come eat with us right now?" Omasu asked.

"I can't today ladies I have club duties. But I'll see you next week okay?" After waving goodbye Misao turned and made a dash towards the stairs.

"Wah!! I'm going to be late!" Misao squealed as she turned a corner nearly colliding with another person. Muttering a quick apology Misao bowed and ran off again. Misao was an executive of her schools Historical Studies club and as a result had to hold regular office hours.

One of the things their club offered was the renting of past tests to students majoring or specializing in historical studies.

It was fun and a great way to become involved in the school community and Misao enjoyed it a lot. In fact several of her other friends were also executives like Kaoru and Kenshin. The only think she did not enjoy was that the office for their club was in the basement and a bit far from the rest of the school.

The sound of her heels clicking against the tiled floor echoed loudly through the hall. She turned the bend and pulled open the double doors to the basement. _Gah, I guess its fitting to have a historical studies club down here, this hallway is ancient!_

Walking a couple more feet Misao finally spotted the H.S.M.P. room (Historical Studies Meeting Place). Misao waved to Kaede-San, the elderly lady that was the coordinator of the H.S.M.P. room.

"Going on your break Kaede-san?"

"Yes I'll be back in three hours." She said while smiling. She passed Misao and headed for the stairs. "By the way Misao-Chan, there is a letter on my desk when you have some time could you run over to Dr. Fukuyama's lab and deliver it for me? It's on this same floor. Thanks." She waved and smiled again as Misao nodded her assent.

Walking in, she quickly dumped her things on the worn sofa and logged into the computer. After opening the necessary programs she typed in her start time. She glanced at the computer time and saw she was about five minutes late. But she didn't care; no one seemed to have come in yet anyways.

So Misao sat back and waited. Being the energetic girl she was she couldn't really sit still for very long. Aoshi had tried to teach her how to meditate but it never worked. Misao was a creature of motion and thus needed to well…move. So she drummed her fingers against the desk and when that got boring began undoing the tie holding her long dark hair in its customary braid. She fiddled with the curled ends pondering what she could do for the next couple of hours.

"Well I guess I _should_ study." She said aloud. Sighing she picked herself up and moved to her bag. Plopping down on the couch she rummaged through her notes and pulled out an article she had to read for her Introduction to Archaeology class.

She flipped her long hair over the back of the couch not bothering to re-tie it, instead allowing the long hair to slowly unwind. It was good to let her hair down sometimes she thought to herself as she placed her tie around her wrist.

Grabbing a highlighter she sank down and started reading.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_Tick. Tick. Tick. _

Misao stared at the clock hanging on the wall across from her.

_Why is it only 2:48__ p.m.?_

She shut her eyes and groaned. Time in her opinion was passing way too slow. She looked again at the article she had to read for class. She flipped disinterestedly through the pages seeing the words but not really reading them. Her head suddenly blurred from staring too long. Tossing the article aside she closed her eyes and gently pinched the bridge of her nose. After a minute she looked up again at the clock.

2:53 p.m.

"What the—augh!"

She rolled her eyes and glanced behind herself toward the door. Freedom was just beyond her reach. She could feel it. All she wanted to do was head to the cafeteria and grab something to eat and finally put to an end the most boring office hour of her life. Shaking her head she figured boring was going to be the theme of the day. No one had even come in so far to rent a test, ask a question. She let out a puff of air and slumped her shoulders in defeat.

She leaned farther into the brown sofa propping her feet up on the coffee table. She leaned her head back and closed her eyes for a bit. With her eyes closed she could hear the tick, tick, ticking of the clock, and the soft gentle hum of the computer. A couple of girls walked by the open doorway giggling about some guy they saw. Misao could hear the click of their heels against the ground as they passed. They gradually faded away leaving once again the sounds of the clock and the humming of the computer.

Just barely Misao could sense the air around her drop a couple degrees. With her eyes still closed she frowned, further pulling up the zipper on her black sweater. Through her closed eyelids she could see the light above her flicker, the bulb making a slight buzzing noise. Suddenly she heard the floor creak behind her. Her eyes popped open and she froze not moving. She moved her head slightly to look behind her just in time to see a Kaede's office door close partially.

"Kaede-san? Are you back from your lunch break early? How was it?" Misao inquired.

"Kaede?" Still no answer. She figured she couldn't hear her and turned back around leaning her head against the couch cushion. She checked the time again. 2:48 p.m.

_Hu__h?_ Misao leaned forward to examine the clock. _Wasn't it just 2:48? Is that clock slowing down?_ She shook her head and leaned back once more closing her eyes.

She could feel her muscles relaxing and her breathing slow. She knew she shouldn't fall into a deep or even light sleep. She was still on the clock and she had to get to the library by 4:00 p.m. to meet Kaoru to study. She frowned again as the room seemed to chill even more. She turned her head to the side. Something was weird though. Misao shifted slightly again. She adjusted her shirt and pulled her hair away from whatever seemed to keep to tugging on it.

Misao's eyes popped open and she froze. She held her breath trying to still the very blood from flowing through her body. But she could still feel it. It was unmistakable. The careful lifting of her hair as if someone were gently playing with the curled ends. In one quick motion she swung around to look behind her knocking her loose sheets of paper onto the floor.

Nothing.

She stood up and walked a few steps to see behind the wood case where students dropped off assignments. No one hiding. She had half expected to see Sano or Kaoru there hiding. She took an uncertain step back confused. She looked around and noticed that Kaede's half closed door was suddenly shut.

_But…I didn't hear it close…_

She frowned again, and slowly turned around to pick up her fallen papers.

"Ok that's 1, 2, 3, 4, uh, 10 pages, I'm missing one." She straightened up and surveyed the floor below her finally spotting her missing page by the computer desk. She walked over and bent down to retrieve it and almost missed seeing the pair of feet peeking out from underneath the desk.

Almost.

She jerked back in alarm and stood up. But there was no one behind the desk. She released the breath of air she hadn't realized she was holding in. She quickly walked back to her bag and began packing her things. It didn't matter if she still had little more than an hour of her office hour left she could be ready. She turned her head to check the time once more. Her eyes widened. 3:58 p.m.

"What the—um…" She shook her head. "Whatever I'm leaving now."

She swung her bag over her shoulder and quickly signed off and turned the computer off. As soon as she entered the hall she noticed how much warmer it was than in the Club room. She turned in the direction of the Cafeteria when she remembered that Kaede needed her to drop off that letter. Quickly stepping back in the club room she grabbed the letter and ran back into the hall.

The clack of her heels echoed off the walls as she walked. She continued in silence.

_Why wasn't anyone else wandering around? _She thought to herself. _There should be some Bio labs going on._ She frowned nervously and walked a bit faster.

As she turned a corner she began picking up another sound. Along with the sound of her heels was the sound of…sliding? The kind of sliding a person can make when they drag their feet behind them. Misao tightened the hold she had on her bag but kept walking. But she could still hear it.

_Clack_ of her heels.

_Step….slide_

_Clack_

_Step…slide_

_Clack_

_Step…slide_

Passed the elevators, Misao began to quicken her pace. Pushing through the double doors she rounded the corner and nearly sprinted down the hall until she arrived in front of the Fukuyama lab. Whipping the letter out she didn't even bother knocking but instead slipped it beneath the door. As she straightened up she looked back the way she came and listened. There was no more sliding sounds.

She began to slowly walk back, but as she arrived at the corner she stopped and glanced to her right. There was a stairwell. She could take it up she thought, get to the second floor quicker and just take the long way to the cafeteria. It looked familiar so it shouldn't get her lost. She smiled thinking about what Kaoru would say to that: "HAHA you got lost in the bowels of the south building!"

Eventually she pushed through the doors, as they closed behind her, her smile slowly faded. Now she remembered why the stairwell was familiar. This is where Sano had taken her, Kaoru, Kenshin and Aoshi to watch the movie Shutter. Suddenly she noticed the cooler temperature. She swallowed heavily staring at the black void beneath the stairs.

Very carefully she willed her legs to move forward and opted to stare straight ahead instead of at the inky blackness. Her foot finally made it to the first step when suddenly Misao heard sniffling. She stopped and strained her ears. Very softly she could make out the sounds of whimpering. She back tracked slightly and glanced as far as she could underneath the stairs. Faintly she could make out the silhouette of a person sitting on the ground.

Feelings of sympathy got the better of her and she slowly stepped forward a step.

"Excuse me are you okay?" The whimpering stopped.

Setting her jaw Misao bravely walked under the stairs.

And saw no one.

Then she felt it. The careful lifting of her hair, as if someone were playing with the curled ends. In one hard yank she fell back as something grabbed her roughly.

She jerked forward in her seat pushing her papers off her lap.

"Uh, Misao you okay?" Her fellow Historical Studies member, Ryuuzaborou asked her. For one disoriented second Misao didn't know where she was until she realized she was still in the club room. She looked at the clock. 4:00 p.m. Her office hour was over.

"Yeah, must have dozed off."

"Well I just got here; you looked like you were having a headache so I didn't say anything. I already signed you out actually."

"Thanks I'll go then." She packed her bags and started out the door. She turned left in the direction of the cafeteria then remembered Kaede needed her to drop off something in the Fukuyama lab. Quickly walking back into the clubs room Misao took the letter off Kaede's desk and waved goodbye to Ryuuzaborou again. Her heels echoed off the walls as she went on in silence. Soon though, the sounds of her heels began mingling with another sound…

The sound of sliding…the kind a person makes when they drag their feet…

TBC…

AN: Well I finished this quicker than I thought. But here it is Chapter 2 done and done! (Dusts off Hands)

**IMPT NOTE ABOUT WHISPERING CORRIDORS** – I should say this here before anyone gets confused. Each chapter will generally focus on a different character and will actually be able to stand alone. Although they do all tie in together and you will see certain elements in one chapter carry over into another one.

**REVIEW REPLIES** :

Scarred Sword Heart: I'm actually a fan of your work (having read the whole Manga series as well I like to think your stories pick up where Watsuki-sensei left off) and am happy you have taken an interest in my story. I should hope it was creepy considering I had to scare myself to get into the right mood. : ). Thank you for your support, and I hope to see you come out with more stories as well.

Gabyhyatt: Thank for your support. I hope I don't let you down.

PidoChan: Thanks I'll try to make it scarier, or at least maintain its level of scariness.

Fickle Luck: Haunting eh? Hehe, I know they sound weird. When I first found out we were getting a new library with those shelves I had no idea what they were about. But it is true. All the shelves are on treads. You just have to find the right aisle press the start button and wait for it to make sure no one is in the aisle, and then once it says ready to use you just press the left or right button to get it to move. Hmm perhaps I should make a video of it, it's not hard to imagine is it? Well I hope not…anyways thank you for taking a liking to my story. : )

Raine: haha I have another friend also Filipino and her name is Raine, or at least it's her nickname. But anyways I should thank you for reviewing both this story and my stormy night one. I was going for that, the fact that it's very different than most RK fics on this site. While I always like a good fic focused on getting KK together I like to write different stories. As for the blue bells I tried looking up the flowers native to Japan that I could use and ended up on a wikipedia site. It had a chart of flowers that Japanese people send (A tradition derived from the Victorian one) and it said blue bells meant grateful. But since it was a wikipedia page I guess it could be wrong. Thanks for reviewing I hope I can have your continued support. : )

Thank you for reading my story. Until next time.


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